Latin Link: Injury bug knocking out Latinos in baseball

Mariano Rivera's injury is just one of many among the Latino community. (Ed Zurga/Getty Images)

If big league trainers and team doctors had to punch time cards like a lot of us do, they would be getting some serious overtime these days. The Cruz Roja should be on high alert. Less than 50 games into the major league season, I’ve never seen so many players on the disabled list. The numbers are particularly staggering for Latino athletes, and the clubs who employ them are scrambling for worthy replacements.

The New York Yankees pitching staff will be challenged throughout the season with the losses of Michael Pineda and Mariano Rivera. They already miss Mo, struggling with a “closer by committee” approach led by David Robertson, Rafael Soriano and Boone Logan. None of the three have been a model of consistency, and Robertson himself is now on the DL due to a left oblique strain.

The situation is similar with the Kansas City Royals. Their star closer, Joakim Soria, went under the knife for his second Tommy John procedure fresh out of spring training. Burly Jonathan Broxton has done a decent job in the Mexicutioner’s absence, but the Royals lack of bullpen depth could be problematic. If anything happens to Broxton, and stranger things have happened, the only other guy with closer experience is lefty Jose Mijares. Another blow to the Kansas City pitching staff came when key starter Jonathan Sanchez went on the DL May 9 with biceps tendinitis. And the catching corps also took a hit when Salvador Perez, who recently inked a new deal, was pronounced out for the season with a torn meniscus.

The Washington Nationals have catching problems as well, with budding super star Wilson Ramos done for the season with a torn ACL. The injury occurred when the Venezuelan scampered to his right to retrieve a wild pitch and fell to the ground in a heap. Ramos, if you recall, was a kidnap-for-ransom victim near his mother’s home this past winter. He spent most of the off season recovering from the ordeal, and reported for camp a bit on the heavy side, in my opinion. Now the Nats must be wishing they had resigned Ivan Rodriguez before Pudge announced he would retire as a Texas Ranger.

The injury bug also keeps biting the Colorado Rockies and their predominately Hispanic pitching staff. Juan Nicasio has recovered nicely from last season’s scarey broken neck incident. But now, number-three starter Jhoulys Chacin is on the DL with right shoulder inflammation. That’s why Colorado hopes for the return of their ace, Jorge De La Rosa, sometime next month. The Mexican southpaw has been recovering for over a year now from a torn ulnar collateral ligament.

As of this posting, the San Diego Padres have an unlucky 13 players on the shelf, with the Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies both reporting 10 guys each who are hurt and can’t work. Here are some of the other more prominent Hispanic players currently on the sidelines.

Even though baseball is not a contact sport, the daily competitive grind punishes the body. Still, to see all these superb athletes get injured so early seems odd to me. Is it just bad luck, as was the case with Rivera ? Or are these star players simply not taking spring training very seriously?

I don’t know all the answers. But without guaranteed contracts, I’m sure some of these players would work a bit harder to get into game-day shape.

Steve "Esteban" Randel is a former player, regional amateur scout in Latin America and current high school coach. He has been an international sports journalist for 42 years, and is the founder and former publisher of "The Latin Athlete" magazine.